7 Reasons Wedbush Is Still Eating Popeyes

In a report published Thursday, Wedbush Morgan analyst Nick Setyan maintained an Outperform rating on Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen, Inc. (NASDAQ: PLKI), with a price target of $70. The company reported its fourth quarter EPS in-line with the consensus on preannounced SSS growth of 10.8% at domestic franchised and 6.9% at co-owned restaurants.

"International reflection point could result in international unit growth acceleration…we believe that the learnings from these more mature markets set up a potential reflection point for sales growth in other less mature markets over the next 3 years," Setyan commented

"While we believe leverage will gradually increase from the expected $40-50M in 2015 (up from $40M in 2014), we also expect increased investment in company-owned international growth," the analyst added.

The EPS estimate for 2015 was reduced from $1.93 to $1.90, "to reflect guidance."